currently, it looks a bit creature heavy for control.i wouldnt suggest Azor's Elocutors as a finisher. it is just too easy to deal with. Same goes for the Elite Arcanist , it will die to almost every removal/debuff thrown at it. Thassa, God of the Sea will almost never be a creature but its up to you to keep her if you thinkt he scry is worth it. Angel of Serenity just doesnt really fit. Clone is kind of meh but again, up to you if you find it useful. everything else is justifiable for control (although i'd take out the 2 Planar Cleansing SB as its just a way worse version of Supreme Verdict .

check out my U/W control deck if you need a reference Hope You Didn't Like Casting Spells. i know you said you have a tight budget but almost all the expensive cards have budget equivalents.

10/10 used my name.

Now that I've got that out of the way. Think about Isochron Scepter if you imprint a Counterspell or an Azorius Charm it can be pretty good.

I don't like Divination it's not at all flexible and it doesn't draw that many cards. I'd replace it with Brainstorm which is at least a 3 card dig for one mana (at instant speed too) or maybe more of those charms (they draw one less, but they do draw, and they have other options).

Forgot to mention using the scepter + Silence is guaranteed table-flipping rage.

Thanks for the ideas Skandia! Took out some creatures for other spells. Skyl0rd, the ideas are cool, but this is a standard deck, so the cards you suggested are not legal. (PS. Love the name!)

Whoops! XDIn that case Elite Arcanist is the modern equivalent... (though skandia4444 already mentioned it... I'd still advocate trading Divination s for more Azorius Charm s, as they have more flexibility to them.

Eh, divination really isn't bad in the current standard environment. Especially now that Think Twice is gone. Opportunity isn't terrible either, depending what stage of the game you're looking for card draw at. The problem with Elite Arcanist is that it's super vulnerable to removal, and you HAVE to be able to protect it,

Consider Render Silent in the sideboard, as it's pretty funny against aggro decks that want to cast more than one spell during their turn,

I would remove Quicken since you don't have many sorceries, and add in one more Silence or Syncopate

Looking a lot more clean now! only advice I have is:

-This deck relies heavily on a mid game draw and stabilize tactic, usually fulfilled by Sphinx's Revelation so i dont think the lone 1 is sufficient. I know you are on a budget so try and slot in 2 Opportunity as it is the next best thing

-put Silence in the sideboard as i find it to be mostly an aggro counter

-try and find room for 2 Celestial Flare mainboard, as the "almost spot removal" is valuable in a deck that lacks strong spot removal

Looking good man! Now its just down to play testing and fine-tuning it to your liking. Oh and of course gradually gathering the costly stuff. Let me know how it plays!

I would recommend just altogether getting rid of the Divination , I would not it to be that useful in a a deck when you only have one of them. Then probably adding another Sphinx's Revelation , or the other way around. having only one of a card tends to make it useless in a deck.

@FinalZen So all commander decks contain useless cards? That's a ridiculous statement.

No commander decks work differently. If you look here you have mostly 2x of most spells, where you do not you generally have 4x. Then you have three cards that are 1x. Those cards you will rarely get in your hand. Having a card like divination, which is useful in all situations. Early game, mid game, late game. Same with Sphinx's revelation. Though you might get that card, it has a much lower probability than let's say your supreme verdict or your syncopate. I would rather have 2x sphinx's revelation or 2x divination, over having one of each, because divination is better used at the beginning than sphinx's revelation. especially when you have more islands. I think it would be better used if you had two divinations rather than one divination and one sphinx's revelation.

I would take out the Divination for a Sphinx's Revelation , but I have to acquire a Sphinx's Revelation first. Remember, this is a budget deck. Sphinx's Revelation is the next card I will get for the deck though.